Fight Night Round 3

"Visually stunning..."

I have never understood the interest in boxing, or even wrestling but this is a boxing game so we'll stick to that. Anyway, I remember seeing Fight Night 3 in a store display and thinking how awesome it looked. Maybe I suck at making a character because my created creature looked stupid. Anyway, is Fight Night 3 a title worth owning, more of a rental, or something never to touch?

Graphic wise Fight Night 3 makes an excellent tech demo for those wanting to show off the 360's power. Show a pre-made character though because I found the create a character to be very lacking and the characters looked a little bland and generic. The crowd and arenas look nice and the entire game has great graphics, although some aren't are nice as others.

The sound is a very mixed bag. Voice acting is actually really well done and the sound effects sound great. It's the horrible soundtrack that ruins the game for me. Rap, rap, and more rap. Seriously, what happened to games that offered a variety of genres? Yes, I could use my own custom soundtrack but I shouldn't have to. Seriously, who wants to listen to Akon?

I hate the original control setup in this game. Moving around is done via the left analog stick. Throwing punches is done via the right stick. I believe the game itself told me to move it in two directions to do different punches. I must really suck because every punch came off the same. I prefer the third control setup that sues the face buttons. The problem is that ranked matches require you to use the right stick for punching. Yes, it gives you more control but if you don't have a manual you're going to have trouble figuring it all out. I also wish it allowed you to pick during ranked matches the control setup you prefer. Oh well. I really just don't like this new control setup for these sports titles.

Game Play wise the game is pretty solid, once you get past the controls. I only messed with career mode. It allowed me to create a very lacking character. Skin tones were truly lacking and the descriptions were rather off as well. I would have preferred more ethnic based color themes rather than "dusky, tan" ect. I found that the fact that I could place X amount of points to stats cool until you realized a state couldn't go over 30 so it defeated the entire purpose.

As for the career mode itself I found it lacking as well. You sign a contract, train, which is one of three badly done mini games and then you fight. It's wash and repeat rest of the time. The AI is either brain-dead or some how knocks you down in 2 hits. I really couldn't figure that part out. I like that when you do get knocked down you have to focus the sticks on the center spot. Easy the first time and god forbid if you get knocked down again because I found it impossible to bring them centered. That's just lame when the opponent can rise up 6 times in a match.

The game really isn't long. Maybe 5 hours to get all of the achievements. The online is very easy to get into. Plenty of people still play. Small bits of lag and the load times are a smidge too long. The game offers ranked and unranked but I couldn't find a person who would stay connected for an unranked game. On-line play was fun though but it wasn't the best around. A nice diversion though.

Is Fight Night 3 worth playing? Well, sure. it isn't terrible by any means. It's just lacking in some areas that would have made this a game worth owning. That being said this is a solid rental and offers an easy 1000 achievement points for those looking for a fast boost. I personally wouldn't buy the game though and it really wasn't worth my time renting it.

Graphics - 9/10
Sound - 6/10
Control - 6/10
Game Play - 8/10
Replay Value - 7/10

Final Score - 7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/22/06